More shoots from the carrot seeds today!! One of the pumpkin seeds looks as if it’s made it’s way upwards and has started sprouting a shoot type of thing out of the side of it. You can see it in the top two photos. Think I might have put it in the wrong way!!! Will see what happens with the others…

After the garlic disaster I mentioned, I managed a covert operation with my youngest!

We went down to the allotment the next day and it was such a miserable day, very few people were there. I got straight in to the bed with the garlic, managed to dig them up, separate them and get them back in with nobody seeing!! They were a bit damp and some of the cloves looked a funny colour, so I didn’t put those ones back in. I don’t know if they were rotten.

On another positive note, we have shoots from the carrot seeds in our kitchen!!!!! We’re all very excited and my youngest is calling them his babies!!! The pumpkin seeds don’t seem to have done anything yet. I guess we’ll just wait and see!!

I’ve got some stock seeds so I think I’ll try to get them in pots tomorrow

We all went down to the allotment today. My other half was desperate to get something planted. I personally think it’s still too cold, but there you go!

The kids were also desperate to plant something so they helped plant some potatoes (Charlotte) which have been chitted in our kitchen. We also planted some onion seeds, straight into the ground and some garlic.

I have made such a silly mistake though! I am embarrassed to write this, but basically, I put the bulbs in (3 of them) without splitting them into cloves. I just didn’t think about it until we got home! In my defence, I did have a two year old swinging a rake round my head at this time, so I was a bit distracted!!!! I am going to go tomorrow to dig them back up and split them into cloves them put them back in. So lucky I’m off work at the moment!! I hope our neighbours aren’t there while I do this…so embarrassing!! I did contemplate going down there tonight with a torch, just so nobody could see how stupid I’ve been!!

Really need some tips on how to keep the kids entertained down there. We’ve only spent a few days down there here and there but I can see my oldest is getting bored. The first time we went down there his school friend was there on his allotment so they had loads of fun. Need to find out when they go I guess and arrange a get together!

Wish me luck for tomorrow!! Might have to get a disguise!! Or I could just blame the kids…..

We’ve been away to Legoland for a couple of days with the boys. Before we went, me and the youngest planted some seeds.

Carrots

Pumpkins

Teddybear sunflowers

The carrots and pumpkin seeds we put in pots with compost. My two year old wasn’t following the instructions about depth etc so who knows whether anything will happen with these!!!!! I managed to stay calm, even though the patio is trashed and far too much water was used!!

I put the sunflowers straight into the ground, not sure if this will work either!! It has been so cold here and frosty so it probably wasn’t a great idea.

I also tried chitting the potatoes. I’ve just put them in an egg box and left them in the kitchen. (Think this is what I’m supposed to do!!)

We’re going to the allotment tomorrow but I think it’ll still be too cold to plant anything. We went down before we went away and got one bed ready for potatoes. Then we started on the other two beds. I’ll take some pics tomorrow. The boys were ok last time we went down there… but did start getting bored. We need to get a little area ready for them.

I am rather scared. I am not green fingered. I simply fancy the idea of growing my own!

I put my name down on ‘the list’ about one and a half years ago. I was just beginning to think that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to have an allotment. I just wasn’t sure if I had enough time.

Then I got the email!

So here we are!

We had three to choose from. The first two we looked at had been one plot and were being spilt. They were really overgrown but one had a shed. We really liked the idea of having our own shed but then we were shown inside; local youths had been using it at night. The thought of going down there on a Sunday morning with the kids…and finding beer bottles etc was not appealing.

Then we saw 29a and just loved it. It’s a half allotment but is still huge!! The other half is used by a Mum with two kids. I’m expecting to be down there a lot over the summer with my two little boys, so this is hopefully good news. Another good sign while we were down there was finding out that one of my number one’s schoolmates has an allotment just behind ours.

The lady who had ours had organised it all; the pointy plant description thingies in the ground. This makes it feel less daunting…but there is still A LOT of work to do!

Everyone down there has been so helpful and friendly. We’ve had lots of tips, but I feel like we’re going to have to prove ourselves!

Our plan is to start getting a couple of the seed beds ready to plant some potatoes and maybe some beetroot/pumpkins. I contacted Lou from the blog ‘Little Green Shed’ and she’s given me some great tips on what to grow and books to read. Her blog is amazing and so inspiring! Anyway…she recommended ‘Vegetable and Herb Expert’ by Dr. D.G.Hessayon. along with a few others. So I’m going to spend some time reading up and maybe potting some seeds at home. For the potatoes I need to ‘chit’ them. Going to have a go at that tomorrow!!